Channelnews: Samsung take on Apple 2013 CES reveal for new Samsung brand

Samsung Electronics is set to undergo a radical brand makeover with a complete new look set to be unveiled at the 2013 CES show in Las Vegas in January.

Sources in Asia have told me the Company has engaged a design team who have been involved in brand development for Nike and that the new look is designed to present Samsung with a more vibrant International brand image alongside the likes of arch rival Apple.

The man spearheading the new Samsung brand identity program is Scott Bedbury who worked closely in the development of several Nike brand projects.

He has also worked for Starbucks and is currently a freelance brand consultant, a member of the Board of Directors for Jones Soda, and CEO of Brandstream.

The current blue Samsung logo will disappear, with all new product marketing linked via their own individual colours that are part of an overall brand family.

“Even the advertising will change with products linked to lifestyle activities similar to what Nike does” said one source.

In recent week senior Samsung staff have been stopped from getting new business cards printed “We have been told to wait till January” said a Samsung source.

Samsung has moved to shift their brand from being seen as an Asian brand to a global technology brand after making former Creative Chief Choi Gee Sung its CEO last year.

David Hill, vice president of design at Lenovo and author of the Design Matters blog, said “For design to have a major impact, it’s got to get involved at the strategic level,” said Hill. “It can’t be an afterthought or superficial trappings to be put on post product creation. Samsung’s brand became powerful only after they put a Chief Design Officer in place and made it a priority for the company. Now they are moving to expand the brand globally”.